Sorry in advance for the long-winded post, but I have a question about this ability for anyone who might wish to talk about it. And if a dev can find the time to read my rambling that’d be dank.
Ever since Paladin released in the Alpha, I’ve been wondering something. It stems from the patch notes that announced the addition of Retribution and Protection to the Dragonflight alpha: What would I say is the Paladin ability? This is a subjective question, with many responses. A lot of it stems from whether you had come into WoW knowing anything about Paladins in other media, or Warcraft itself. For me, it is Lay on Hands. My first exposure to Paladins in games being D&D, this ability has always felt like the paladin ability (Divine Shield coming at a close second).
Now, other answers aside, I reckon this is one of the more iconic Paladin abilities for most people. If you’re playing one, grouping with one, or facing one. You know this is a thing that Paladins can do. It’s a good ability, and very thematic. It represents a Paladin being able to pick up an ally from the brink of death. It requires a simple keystroke in WoW, but is a resource that shouldn’t be expended without much forethought; being a 10 minute cooldown currently you’re only getting one and it’s going to be a while till that’s an option once again. Anyone would be glad that they have a full health bar and a forbearance debuff, realizing the Paladin in the group had just picked them up and saved the healer (or themselves) some headache.
In the alpha for Dragonflight, Lay on Hands is a talented ability. You have to choose to have it as Ret, and is automatically taken for Protection and Holy. Now I get that WoW is far more about game mechanics and balance concerns rather than flavor and class fluff, this is natural given the community surrounding the game. And we can’t all be winners. So not all abilities are going to be baseline, and Lay on Hands seems like a no-brainer to put in the talent tree. It’s a good ability and well worth the point; if you care about your allies, you’ll probably slap a point in there and think nothing of it.
But you should think about it a bit more than that. Why is it a talent point at all? I don’t like drawing comparisons that much because obviously, vacuums aren’t good places to think about classes and whatnot. Regardless, humor me. We’ll keep it to our ancient blood-pact brethren, those who were shunned in the ages past; the stepchildren of WoW; the hybrids.
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Druids have a similar ability with the same kind of cooldown, in Rebirth. This is also an iconic Druid ability. It is spot on flavor-wise and is a very good ability. So much so, you often times can consider a druid for a spot in a mythic+ group, or raid, simply for the ability to resurrect in combat (you know, if Warlocks aren’t busted since they share this mechanic). It’s not the only thing they bring, but it is a great ability. This is not a talent point.
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Shamans have a much different ability than their otherwise more peaceful hybrid companions in Bloodlust/Heroism. This is offense based, but is spot on flavor-wise, has the lore multiple games of precedent for it being a thing they can do, and often times is also a huge consideration in a group composition, whether or not to bring a Shaman. You wouldn’t want to send these savages into the wild without it, because many groups would be disappointed to find the Shaman had not spent a point in it, so this is not a talent point.
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Paladins however, have Lay on Hands. Slightly treading the same ground as druid (picking up those who cannot move out of flames very quickly), but with no cast time. Now I’ve said my piece on why I think this is an iconic Paladin ability. But it is a talent point, unlike the others. But, for some reason, this is not a strong enough ability to consider bringing a Paladin along in groups for. I will get to that in a moment.
Now keep in mind, the patch notes that got me thinking about this whole thing described Paladin as such:
Developers’ note: With the Paladin talent trees in Dragonflight, we wanted to embrace the class’ knight heritage and the full breadth of its group stewardship.
and nothing to me, is more knightly than giving a helping hand to those in need, and nothing says “group steward” like picking up a healer at 10% health. And thus, we enter the question period of my post.
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How is the Paladin “group stewardship” represented in it’s core abilities like the other traditional hybrids, when we have no utility in those core abilities outside of the Taunt+Bubble combo? Our Dispel is a talent. Freedom and Sacrifice are talents. Our auras are talents. Lay on Hands is a talent. Everyone who can heal has access to minor baseline healing when picking their class, so it can’t be that.
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Is Lay on Hands the ability you’re even supposed to consider as a utility when bringing a Paladin to a group?
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If not, what is? The other previously mentioned utilities that are locked behind talents?
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If so, why is Lay on Hands so far behind the curve? It is a talent, unlike the other two long cooldown utilities I mentioned, and I am sad to admit that it is far less effective. This is not an ability anyone in group finder is specifically looking for, and is almost never a consideration when bringing a Paladin along for any content.
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Thank you for your time, feel free to give any input about what you think is the iconic Paladin ability for you.
And as a slight sidenote specifically about the recent change to disable Lay on Hands in rated PvP on the alpha, why are Holy Paladins going into rated PvP in Dragonflight with one less talent point than other classes? You can’t use Bloodlust, Soulstone, Rebirth. But these do not require talent points. It feels really clunky.
Edit: I just realized I forgot Monk entirely as a hybrid. Sorry! 5% physical damage increase, no talent point, yadda yadda. Don’t worry I exclusively do M+ with a Brewmaster, Monks are homies of the highest order.